A Report on the First International Gathering of The EARTH Project Edited by Judith Marcuse and Diana Bulley with the assistance of Richard Marcuse Produced by Judith Marcuse Projects Vancouver, B.C., Canada www.dancearts.bc.ca www.earthproject.ca Table of Contents From the Delegates . 3 Introduction . 4 The Sessions. 6 Closing Session. 6 Arts Workshops. 7 Keynote Presentations . 19 Panels and Discussions . 21 Environmental and Social Justice Workshops . 25 Show and Tells . 30 Films Presented . 32 Open Space Afternoon. 33 A Sampling of Letters from Delegates . 37 Acknowledgements . 39 Appendices Appendix 1: Facilitator Biographies . 40 Appendix 2: Exchanges Youth Biographies . 46 2 I The EARTH Symposium From the Delegates... It wasn’t that I wasn’t on top of things before, just that I wanted to jump off the plane and swim to Victoria to I think I was bogged down and insular and had visit everyone there, or fly to the east coast to eat a forgotten that there were other people pursuing the fish head and get initiated as a Newfie and eat all of same goals as I, with as much passion and your lobsters, or bike to the UK and learn about forum commitment. Somehow, knowing that makes it easier, theatre or go down to the States and vote or canoe kind of like I can see above the canopy of trees and I from Hudson’s Bay to Nunavut or stay in Vancouver can breathe more freely. and buy a café mocha to go and stand on the picket Brigid Schutz, South Africa lines dancing and singing and yelling my ass off. But instead, with tears welling in my eyes, I move away The conference has provided me with an amazing and from a place in which I’ve only spent a brief moment varied insight into how arts can provide the creative of my life but that has felt more like home than any space to explore and deal with key issues facing young place ever did. All is not lost, however, because I am people in their localities. Skinder Hundal, U.K. returning to Winnipeg with something that I have not been able to feel for a while. Hope. After meeting so Whether from starry-eyed conversations on the deck of many extraordinary people who were so amazingly a cruise-ship, to new bonds of friendship forged across passionate and focused in healing the world we share, countries and continents, cross-cultural dance lessons, I would be foolish not to have hope for our future. the sharing of schools of thought and practice, a life- Loc Lu, Canada (youth delegate) long commitment to the arts, a belief in the power and possibility of social change… in truth the promise and Because of this symposium, my relationship to art, my unapologetic idealism of so many of the people I came views on my place in society, and my long-term life in contact with were fierce and daring. Koby Rogers goals have all changed or – perhaps more accurately – Hall, Canada (youth delegate) been clarified greatly. I had previously toyed with the idea of going back to the Philippines – my country of How has my life been changed? I look at my world birth and citizenship – and setting up an art school...or through a different lens now. I think about what I’m something vague like that, at least. Now I know that I doing, what I’m buying, what I’m eating. I feel want to and can use performing arts to work with empowered – that my small efforts are in tandem with communities in distress to give people tools they can hundreds and thousands of others around the world. wield to empower themselves. Diego Maranan, That somehow, my small actions will create long-term Philippines/Canada (youth delegate) impacts somewhere way down the line. I am involved in creating the kind of world that I want to live in, that This was one of the most provocative and well- my children will live in. And I can spread these planned conferences that I have ever attended. messages to those around me – from my family, Nicholas Rowe, West Bank friends, to the people I meet on the street. Shannon Butters, Canada (youth delegate) This is the beginning of a new journey, I know, full of adventure, of sharing, of creation. Diego Samper, Colombia/Canada The EARTH Symposium I 3 Introduction By Judith Marcuse, LL.D. Artistic Producer, Judith Marcuse Projects n the spring of 2004, from April 28 to May 2, over 300 Peru and Mexico. Some of the performance pieces, films artists, activists and youth from across Canada and and exhibitions arising from all this work will be brought Iaround the world gathered in Vancouver, B.C., to to Canada in 2006 as part of The EARTH Project Festival. participate in The EARTH Symposium: Breaking New Ground, a conference organized by DanceArts Vancouver, Our website, www.earthproject.ca, continues to be an now re-named Judith Marcuse Projects. A UNESCO- active component of the Project. Using the website’s designated event, produced in collaboration with Simon Forum, delegates and new participants are keeping the Fraser University and part of the longer-term EARTH dialogue alive. In January 2005, a web-streaming event Project, these five days of activities explored the many will bring us together to share the work we are doing. ways in which the arts are being used in communities A documentary film about The EARTH Project is in around the globe as tools for social change, particularly in development. Over 35 hours of video footage has already work with youth. captured many of the events of the Symposium. A wide range of hands-on dance, theatre, visual and Filmmakers Jessica Fraser and Scott Smith will be media arts, music and writing workshops, 93 in total, travelling to EARTH Partners’ home bases in six countries were presented by artists and activists from 21 countries, to document the extraordinary work that is taking place all designed to share both the vision and methodologies as part of the project. of their work. Social justice and environmental issues were explored in youth-led workshops that attracted both young and older delegates. Dialogues and panels, informal showings of work, three keynote speakers, an “Open Space” afternoon and a mix of social events were all part of the planned program. What could not have been planned was the magical synergy and energy that blossomed at the gathering. The diversity of the participants and their expertise and passionate commitment to activism and social change created an explosion of creative thinking and open exchange. As a result, many new international connections have been made, new and renewed energy has been created across generations and borders, and a new community has come into being. Many people have described their experience at the Symposium as life-changing. The EARTH Project continues. Local EARTH projects, originating in communities in Africa, Asia, Australia, Central and South America and Europe and North America will be created over the next two years. In addition, collaborations have begun between delegates and their organizations in Pakistan, India, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Italy, Austria, Australia, South Africa, 4 I The EARTH Symposium arts, media arts, music and writing worked with delegates to give them direct experience of their work. At nine show and tell sessions, artists and activists used a variety of media to share the challenges and successes of current or recently-completed projects. We devoted a full afternoon to the unique process of Open Space work. This was a time for delegates to create their own sessions in which to explore ideas and questions that had arisen during their time working together at the Symposium – 26 of these “tailor-made” sessions took place. Three keynote speeches, informal discussion circles, social events, film showings and good food at lunches and dinners helped to round out the program. On registration day, an evening dinner cruise took us around Vancouver’s Burrard A Canadian EARTH stage production will première in Inlet in perfect weather after an on-board First Nations Vancouver in May 2005. Based on two years of Judith welcome. During the conference, the Red Cross held a Marcuse Projects-conducted workshops with hundreds of fundraising event for their travelling medical work in youth aged 15 to 25, this large-scale, multimedia event Colombia and Simon Fraser University’s dance will incorporate the thoughts and feelings of these young department presented an evening concert. people in an accessible, high-production, professional show. Workshops, films and exhibitions will be part of We experienced one very trying set of difficulties. this two-week event. In 2007, the production will tour Obtaining Canadian visas for some of our delegates from Canada. This is the third work in a quartet of major India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and six African countries was works created by Judith Marcuse Projects and follows very problematic. In the end, and despite valiant efforts on the creation of ICE: beyond cool and FIRE…where from many people, only three of these 35 delegates were there’s smoke. allowed into Canada to attend the Symposium. This decision was made despite that fact that most of these Also in Vancouver, in the summer of 2006, the individuals were senior artists, journalists or academics, international EARTH Project Festival will bring people and with international reputations, and despite the fact that their work together once again. Ten days of events in most of them had previously travelled extensively theatres, community centres and other public spaces will abroad.